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Mobiles equivalent to the globe’s population…

Who knew that the number of mobile telephones worldwide is set to catch up to the globe’s population in 2014?

According to the The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), it has been said that all mobile subscriber numbers are set to top a staggering seven billion! “More than half of all mobile subscriptions are now in Asia, which remains the powerhouse of market growth,” the ITU said.

Its quite amazing, that potentially by the end of 2013, overall mobile penetration rates will have reached 96% globally, of which 128% in the developed world, and 89% in developing countries.”Near-ubiquitous mobile penetration makes mobile cellular the ideal platform for service delivery in developing countries,” said Brahima Sanou, director of the ITU’s telecommunication development bureau.

According to the ITU, it is forecasted that 2.7 billion people, or rather 39% of the world’s population, would be using the internet by the end of this year. Its quite a “wow” thought to know what the stats of “going mobile” has brought to the globe! Europe is set to remain the world’s most connected region, with a total of 75% internet penetration which far exceeds the Asia-Pacific region at 32%, and Africa with 16%.”Household internet penetration – often considered the most important measure of internet access – continues to rise. By end 2013, ITU estimates that 41% of the world’s households will be connected to the internet,” the agency noted.

Over the past four years, household access has grown fastest in Africa, with an annual growth rate of 27%, it said. Its great to see that Africa is catching up…..at a slow pace- but at least we can see that there is certainly “space” for new innovative ideas coming from the mobile and internet sector- so that Africa can start reaching a higher potential within this market.